Resources: Lucy

Here are some of my favorite links to vendors, magazines, and other dancers. I have not listed every site I know of - just my personal favorites. Please note -- All links on this page are ones that I am suggesting, but not necessarily endorsing. I do not earn any money based on my listing sites here, and I take no responsibility for any content on these sites. Also, I apologize in advance for any oversights or inactive links -- it's hard keeping up with this page!

Other Regional Sites with Events

Arizona
Baltimore -- Greater Baltimore/DC area.
British Columbia -- BC and parts of Washington State.
California -- MECDA - covers the entire State of California, a.k.a. Bellydancer Central.
Chicago - Chicago and surrounding suburbs.
Florida.
Los Angeles -- Los Angeles (aka Bellydance Central) and surrounding areas.
New England.
New England, Part 2 - Another resource for New England.
New York -- New York City and surrounding areas.
North Carolina Belly Dance -- Resource for middle eastern dance and music in North Carolina.
Philadelphia.
San Diego.
San Francisco Bay Area.
Southwestern Virginia -- Blacksburg/Roanoke/Central Virginia area.
Utah.
Washington State -- The site says it's targeted to Seattle, but it seems to cover a much bigger geographic area.

Places to See Dance in the DC Area

Washington, D.C.

Marrakesh - Chinatown/MCI Center. Dancers every night (taped music), with two shows on Saturday night.
Prince Palace - Georgetown. Dancers perform to the live music of Shawkat Sayyed every Friday and Saturday night at the Wisconsin Avenue location in Georgetown.

Virginia

Casablanca - Old Town Alexandria. Dancers every night - live music for the late show on Saturday nights, but otherwise taped music.
Layalina - North Arlington. My personal favorite for food and ambiance in the DC area -- you MUST try the fo'ol appetizer. Amazing!
Shisha Lounge - Sterling. Dancers perform avant garde bellydance every Thursday night. Performers include Asharah, Belladonna, and Mavi.

Maryland

Amer's Cafe - Baltimore. Dancers perform to taped music from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night.
Five Seasons -- Dance show the first Sunday of every month, at 4 p.m. New line-up of dancers every month.
Mediterranean Grill - Frederick. Dancer appears Saturday night around 7 pm to recorded music.
Mediterranean Grill - Dancer every Saturday night around 8 pm to recorded music.
Mem Sahib - Rockville. Dancers every night, but call for reservations and to confirm.
Tel Aviv Cafe - Bethesda. Dancer on Saturday nights.

General Resources

Bhuz - This is actually a message board, but I have learned so much from the posts here!
DC Professional Dancers' Forum - A forum I started on yahoo specifically targeted to the needs/concerns of professional bellydancers in the DC/Baltimore area. By invitation only; email me for more information.
Joy of Bellydancing -- Wonderful site with articles, links, and all kinds of resources. It's easy to spend hours on this site!
Oriental Dancer -- Features a discussion board, belly dance instructor and event directories, a talent agency database, articles, star interviews, Arabic song lyrics and Belly dance music.
Shira- Probably the number one source for information about all things relating to bellydance. I've been reading articles on her site for months and still haven't waded through all the information there!

Online Dance Publications

Gilded Serpent - A great site with reviews, photos, events listings, and other fun stuff
Jareeda - You can access articles from the current month's issue; previous issues must be purchased.

Dance Organizations

IAMED - Sponsors of numerous wonderful workshops and events; also conducts the annual International Awards of Belly Dance.
WAMEDA - Washington-area dance association with an index of local teachers, performers, and vendors(publishes a bi-monthly newsletter).

Vendors

A'kai Silks -- Gorgeous silks hand-dyed by Je'Sennia.
Bellydance with K Boutique -- A great source of inexpensive, quality costuming. Excellent for the dancer just starting out.
Cleopatra's Closet -- Local vendor of music, videos, costuming supplies, and more, run by lovely local dancer and teacher, Nimeera.
Dahlal -- Great selection of videos, music, and costumes.
Denise Marino Photos -- Denise took some great shots of me in Miami; I would highly recommend her.
L. Rose Designs - One of my favorite vendors; they custom-make their items, so allow extra time for delivery. In return, you'll get top notch goods for a very reasonable price!
Maqam -- The first place I look for bellydance CDs and videos. They are cheaper than everyone else out there! If you don't see an item on their website, email Esther (hyperlink: esther@maqam.com) and ask her to order it for you.
Sarah Skinner -- Dancer and dance photographer extraordinaire. Her photos are absolutely amazing!
ShimmyShimmy -- One of my favorites; inexpensive but quality goods, superfast service.
Saut wa Soora -- OK, the website leaves a bit to be desired. But this is one of the main sources of Egyptian videos in the US. I've sent them a check with a return Fed Ex envelope and gotten the video I ordered in two days!
The Bellydance Shop -- The only vendor in the United States currently selling Bella costumes. Lee Ann is wonderful to deal with, and the costumes are amazing.

Washington-Area Teachers

Artemis and Yasmin - Two of my favorite teachers; Yasmin specializes in old-school Egyptian; Artemis specializes in Turkish. Note - if you want to learn zills, take lessons with Artemis! She is the Queen of Zills.
Azza Mounib - Azza is a wonderful teacher and lovely person; I highly recommend taking lessons with her if you're interested in working on Egyptian style.
Faten Salama - Faten is world-renowned for her lovely Egyptian style.
Joy of Motion - Where I started taking classes.
Laurel Victoria Gray -- One of my teachers at Joy of Motion, and one of the most respected Middle Eastern dance teachers anywhere.

Washington-Area Performers

Anthea - Performs the late show every Friday night at Marrakesh in D.C.
Alexis - A lovely dancer and teacher (and one of the most generous people I know).
Asharah - A truly lovely performer, and one of my favorites when it comes to fusion-style bellydance. She performs solo and with Martiya Possession.
Dianna -- Another amazing cabaret performer in the DC/MD area! Winner of the 2003 Duchess of Dance Award at the East Coast Belly Dance Classic.
Jemina -- Great personality, great smile on stage! A thoroughly enjoyable performer.
Kostana -- A wonderful Turkish-style dancer in DC. She often performs with her husband, renowned drummer Brad Sidwell (aka Sidqi).
Mark Balahadia is that rare commodity - a male oriental dancer!
Marta Another lovely tribal style dancer in DC (and a doula as well!).
Miasia -- Hot, hot, hot - Miasia is one of my favorite dancers to watch. She has the audience eating out of her hand after the first two minutes!
Samira Shuruk - Samira is a dancer and a Pilates instructor; she performs throughout the greater DC area. Yasmin -- Yasmin is absolutely the queen of Egyptian style in this area - she has performed all over the world, from Cairo to London. If you get the chance to see her perform - GO.
Zareen - Zareen is a fabulous performer, and amazing with sword. She performs throughout the DC area.

Teachers Outside DC Horatio and Beata Cifuentes -- I had the good fortune to study with Horatio and Beata in November, 2004, and they changed the way I dance. Do not miss the opportunity to study with them! They also make excellent CDs.
Keti Sharif - I met Keti in New York in July, 2004, and was just blown away by her knowledge and ideas about dance. Her A-Z system of dance is wonderful; I highly recommend her A-Z videos to everyone.
Little Egypt - Dee Dee, Ahmed and Nora are constantly bringing in top Egyptian artists to perform and teach, including Dina, Mona el Said, Raqia Hassan, Aida Nour and Magdy el-Leisy.
Piper -- Piper teaches in the Baltimore, Maryland area. Although I've never taken classes with her, I've seen her students perform, and WOW! are they impressive.

Dancers Beyond the DC Area

Aziza of Montreal/Portland -- A truly amazing dancer - she's like good chocolate. Just as smooth and rich as can be!
Bahaia -- Teacher, choreographer, workshop sponsor in the Austin, Texas area.
Seyyide -- Boston, MA.